History

Toponymy

Bolton is a common Northern English name derived from the Old Englishbothl-tun, meaning a settlement with a dwelling.[3][4] The first recorded use of the name, in the form Boelton, dates from 1185 to describe Bolton le Moors, though this may not be in relation to a dwelling.[5] It was recorded as Bothelton in 1212, Botelton in 1257, Boulton in 1288, and Bolton after 1307.[6] Later forms of Botheltun were Bodeltown, Botheltun-le-Moors, Bowelton, Boltune, Bolton-super-Moras, Bolton-in-ye-Moors, Bolton-le-Moors.[7] The town's motto of Supera Moras means "overcome difficulties" (or "delays"), and is a pun on the Bolton-super-Moras version of the name meaning literally, "Bolton on the moors".[8]

Early history to the Civil War

There is evidence of human existence on the moors around Bolton since the early part of the Bronze Age, including a stone circle on Cheetham Close above Egerton,[9] and Bronze Age burial mounds on Winter Hill.[10] A Bronze Age mound was excavated in Victorian times outside Haulgh Hall. The Romans built roads from Manchester to Ribchester to the east and a road along what is now the A6 to the west. It is claimed that Agricola built a fort at Blackrod by clearing land above the forest. Evidence of a Saxon settlement exists in the form of religious objects found when the Victorian parish church was built.[11]

In 1067 Great Bolton was the property of Roger de Poitou and after 1100, of Roger de Meresheys. It became the property of the Pilkingtons who forfeited it in the Civil War and after that the Stanleys who became Earls of Derby.[12] Great Bolton and Little Bolton were part of the Marsey fee, in 1212 Little Bolton was held by Roger de Bolton as plough-land, by the service of the twelfth part of a knight's fee to Randle de Marsey.[13] The parish church in Bolton has an early foundation although the exact date is unknown; it was given by the lord of the manor to the Gilbertine canons of Mattersey Priory in Nottinghamshire, founded by Roger de Marsey.[14]

A charter to hold a market in Churchgate was granted on 14 December 1251 by King Henry III of England.[15] Bolton became a market town and borough by a charter from the Earl of Derby, William de Ferrers, on 14 January 1253, and a market was held until the 18th century. Burgage plots were laid out on Churchgate and Deansgate in the centre of the medieval town close to where Ye Olde Man & Scythe public house, dating from 1251, is situated today.[16]

In 1337 Flemish weavers settled and introduced the manufacture of woollen cloth.[17] More Flemish weavers, fleeing the Huguenot persecutions, settled here in the 17th century. The second wave of settlers wove fustian, a rough cloth made of linen and cotton.[18] Digging sea coal was recorded in 1374.[6] There was an outbreak of the plague in the town in 1623.[6]

During the English Civil War, the people of Bolton were Puritans and supported the Parliamentarian cause.[14] A parliamentary garrison in the town was attacked twice without success but on 28 May 1644 Prince Rupert's Royalist army with troops under the command of the Earl of Derby attacked again. The attack became known as the Bolton Massacre in which 1,500 died, 700 were taken prisoner and the town plundered.[18] At the end of the Civil War Lord Derby was tried as a traitor at Chester and condemned to death. When his appeal for pardon to parliament was rejected he attempted to escape but was recaptured and executed for his part in the massacre outside Ye Olde Man & Scythe Inn at Bolton on 15 October 1651.[6]

Industrial revolution onward

A tradition of cottage spinning and weaving and improvements to spinning technology by local inventors, Richard Arkwright and Samuel Crompton, led to rapid growth of the textile industry in the 19th century. Crompton, whilst living at Hall i' th' Wood, invented the spinning mule in 1779. Streams draining the surrounding moorland into the River Croal provided the water necessary for bleach works that were a feature of this area.[19] Bleaching using chlorine was introduced in the 1790s by the Ainsworths at Halliwell Bleachworks. Bolton and the surrounding villages had more than thirty bleachworks including the Lever Bank Bleach Works in the Irwell Valley.[20] The mule revolutionised cotton spinning by combining the roller drafting of Arkwright's water frame with the carriage drafting and spindle tip twisting of James Hargreaves's spinning jenny, producing a high quality yarn. Self-acting mules were used in Bolton mills until the 1960s producing fine yarn.[20] The earliest mills were situated by the streams and river as at Barrow Bridge, but steam power led to the construction of the large multi-storey mills and their chimneys that dominated Bolton's skyline, some of which survive today.[18]

Bolton's first Mayor, Charles James Darbishire was sympathetic to Chartism and a supporter of the Anti-Corn Law League. In August 1839 Bolton was besieged by Chartist rioters and the Riot Act was read and special constables sworn in. The mayor accompanied soldiers called to rescue special constables at Little Bolton Town Hall, which was besieged by a mob, and the incident ended without bloodshed.[23]

By 1900 Bolton was Lancashire's third largest engineering centre after Manchester and Oldham. About 9,000 men were employed in the industry, half of them working for Dobson and Barlow in Kay Street. The firm made textile machinery.[24] Another engineering company Hick, Hargreaves & Co based at the Soho Foundry made Lancashire boilers and heavy machinery.[25]Thomas Ryder and Son of Turner Bridge manufactured machine tools for the international motor industry. Wrought iron was produced for more than 100 years at Thomas Walmsley and Sons' Atlas Forge.[26]

By 1911 the textile industry in Bolton employed about 36,000 people. The last mill to be constructed was Sir John Holden's Mill in 1927.[27] The cotton industry declined from the 1920s. A brief upturn after the Second World War was not sustained, and the industry had virtually vanished by the end of the 20th century.

During the night of 26 September 1916, Bolton was the target for an aerial offensive. L21, a Zeppelin commanded by Oberleutnant Kurt Frankenburg of the Imperial German Navy, dropped twenty-one bombs on the town, five of them on the working class area of Kirk Street, killing thirteen residents and destroying six houses. Further attacks followed on other parts of the town, including three incendaries dropped close to the Town Hall.[28][29]

Lord Leverhulme

In 1899 William Lever, Lord Leverhulme, bought Hall i'th' Wood as a memorial to Samuel Crompton inventor of the spinning mule. Lever restored the dilapidated building and presented it to the town in 1902, having turned it into a museum furnished with household goods typical of domestic family life in the 16th and 17th centuries. Lever re-endowed Bolton Schools, giving land and his house on Chorley New Road. He presented the town with 67 acres (270,000 m2) of land for a public park which the corporation named Leverhulme Park in 1914.[30] In 1902 he gave the people of Bolton Lever Park at Rivington. In 1911, Lever consulted Thomas Mawson, landscape architect and lecturer in Landscape Design at the University of Liverpool, regarding town planning in Bolton. Mawson published "Bolton – a Study in Town Planning and Civic Art" and gave lectures entitled "Bolton Housing and Town Planning Society" which formed the basis of an illustrated book "Bolton – as it is and as it might be". In 1924, Leverhulme presented Bolton Council with an ambitious plan to rebuild the town centre based on Mawson's designs funded partly by himself. The council declined in favour of extending the town hall and building the civic centre.[31]

Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council is divided into twenty wards, each of which elects three councillors for a term of up to four years. As of 2014 there are forty Labour councillors, sixteen Conservatives and three Liberal Democrats, with one seat remaining vacant.[39]

Climate in the Greater Manchester area is generally similar to the climate of England, although owing to protection from the mountains in North Wales it experiences slightly lower than average rainfall except during the summer months, when rainfall is higher than average.[44] Bolton has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).[45][46]

At the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001, according to the Office for National Statistics, the Urban Subdivision of Bolton[49] was part of the Greater Manchester Urban Area and had a total resident population of 139,403, of which 67,823 (48.7%) were male and 71,580 (51.3%) were female,[50] living in 57,827 households.[51] The settlement occupied 4,446 hectares (17.17 sq mi), compared with 2,992 hectares (11.55 sq mi) in the 1991 census, though it should be noted that the 2001 Urban census area contains a large rural area to the south of the town. Its population density was 31.35 people per hectare compared with an average of 40.20 across the Greater Manchester Urban Area.[50] The median age of the population was 35, compared with 36 within the Greater Manchester Urban Area and 37 across England and Wales.[52]

The majority of the population of Bolton were born in England (87.10%); 2.05% were born elsewhere within the United Kingdom, 1.45% within the rest of the European Union, and 9.38% elsewhere in the world.[53]

Data on religious beliefs across the town in the 2001 census show that 67.9% declared themselves to be Christian, 12.5% stated that they were Muslim, 8.6% said they held no religion, and 3.4% reported themselves as Hindu.[54]

Population growth

Between the 1801 and 1891 censuses, given population figures are for the former townships of Great Bolton and Little Bolton.
Between the 1901 and 2001 censuses, given population figures are for the total area of Bolton.

Year

1801

1821

1841

1861

1891

1901

1921

1939

1961

1981

2001

Great Bolton

12,549

22,037

33,449

43,435

47,067

Little Bolton

4,867

9,258

15,707

24,942

44,307

Bolton

168,215

178,683

163,823

160,789

143,921

139,403

Sources: Local population statistics.[55] Great Bolton Tn/CP: Total Population.[56] Little Bolton Tn/CP: Total Population.[57]
County Borough 1901–1971[58] Urban Subdivision 1981–2001[50][59][60]

At the time of the 2001 Census, there were 56,390 people in employment who were resident within Bolton. Of these, 21.13% worked in the wholesale and retail trade, including repair of motor vehicles; 18.71% worked within manufacturing industry; 11.00% worked within the health and social work sector and 6.81% were employed in the transport, storage and communication industries.[62]

In the last quarter of the 20th century heavy industry was replaced by service-based activities including data processing, call centres, hi-tech electronics and IT companies. The town retains some traditional industries employing people in paper-manufacturing, packaging, textiles, transportation, steel foundries and building materials. Missiles were produced at the British Aerospace (BAe) factory in Lostock, now closed. The Reebok brand's European headquarters are located at the Reebok Stadium. Bolton is also the home of the family bakery, Warburtons, established in 1876 on Blackburn Road. On 13 February 2003, Bolton was granted Fairtrade Town status.[63]

Bolton attracts visitors to its shopping centres, markets, public houses, restaurants and cafes in the town centre as well retail parks and leisure facilities close to the town centre and in the surrounding towns and suburbs.[64][65] Tourism plays a part in the economy, visitor attractions include Hall i' th' Wood, Smithills Hall and Country Park, Last Drop Village, Barrow Bridge and the Bolton Steam Museum.[66][67]

There are several regeneration projects planned for Bolton over the next ten years, including Church Wharf by Ask Developments and Bluemantle[68] and Merchant's Quarter by local developer Charles Topham group, which together will contribute 1,000,000 square feet (93,000 m2) of business space.[69] The Bolton Innovation Zone is a large £300 million development with the University of Bolton at its core.

Landmarks

Situated in the town centre on the site of a former market is the Grade II* listed town hall, an imposing neoclassical building designed by William Hill and opened in June 1873 by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.[70] In the 1930s the building was extended by Bradshaw Gass & Hope.[16][71] Within the Town Hall are the Albert Halls and several function rooms. The original, single Albert Hall was destroyed by fire on 14 November 1981. After rebuilding work, it was replaced by the present Albert Halls, which were opened in 1985.[71]

The Great Hall of Smithills Hall was built in the 14th century when William de Radcliffe received the Manor of Smithills from the Hultons, the chapel dates from the 16th century and was extended during the 19th. Smithills Hall was where, in 1555, George Marsh was tried for heresy during the Marian Persecutions. After being "examined" at Smithills, according to local tradition, George Marsh stamped his foot so hard to re-affirm his faith, that a footprint was left in the stone floor. It is a Grade I listed building and is now a museum.[72][73]

Hall i' th' Wood, now a museum, is a late mediaeval yeoman farmer's house built by Laurence Brownlow. Around 1637 it was owned by the Norris family, who added the stone west wing. In the 18th century it was divided up into tenements. Samuel Crompton lived and worked there. In the 19th century it deteriorated further until in 1895 it was bought by industrialist William Hesketh Lever, who restored it and presented it to Bolton Council in 1900.[74]

Bolton's 26 conservation areas contain 700 listed buildings, many of which are in the town centre, and there is parkland including the VictorianQueen's Park, Leverhulme Park and other open spaces in the surrounding area.[75][76] These include Le Mans Crescent, Ye Olde Man & Scythe, Little Bolton Town Hall, the Market Place, Wood Street and Holy Trinity Church. The Market Hall of 1854 is a Grade II listed building.[77] Outside the town centre can be found Mere Hall, Firwood Fold, Haulgh Hall, Park Cottage, St Mary's Church, Deane, Lostock Hall Gatehouse and All Souls Church. Notable mills still overlooking parts of the town are Sir John Holden's Mill[78] and Swan Lane Mills.[79]

Most views northwards are dominated by Rivington Pike and the Winter Hill TV Mast on the West Pennine Moors above the town.[80]

Transport

Bolton is well served by the local road network and national routes. The A6, a major north–south trunk road, passes to the west through Hunger Hill and Westhoughton. The A666dual carriageway (sometimes referred to as the Devil's Highway because of its numeric designation), is a spur from the M61/M60motorway interchange through the town centre to Astley Bridge, Egerton, Darwen and Blackburn. The M61 has three dedicated junctions serving the borough.

There is evidence from Saxon times of Christian churches and at the time of the Civil War a Puritan and nonconformist presence in the town. The Unitarians were among the early dissenting congregations which eventually included Methodists, Baptists, Seventh Day Adventist and other denominations. More than forty churches were built during the Victorian era, but some have now been closed, demolished or converted to other uses.[95][96]

Today, the parish of Bolton-le-Moors covers a small area in the town centre,[97] but until the 19th century it covered a much larger area, divided into eighteen chapelries and townships.[14][98] The neighbouring ancient parish of Deane centred around St Mary's Church once covered a large area to the west and south of Bolton,[99] and the township of Great Lever was part of the ancient parish of Middleton.[98]

The Church of St Peter, commonly known as Bolton Parish Church, is an example of the gothic revival style. Built between 1866 and 1871 of Longridge stone to designs by Paley, the church is 67 ft (20.4 m) in width, 156 ft (47.5 m) in length, and 82 ft (25.0 m) in height. The tower is 180 ft (54.9 m) high with 13 bells.[11] The first church on the same site was built in Anglo-Saxon times. It was rebuilt in Norman times and again in the early 15th century. Little is known of the first two earlier churches, but the third building was a solid, squat building with a sturdy square tower at the west end. It was modified over the years until it fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1866.[14] Fragments of stone and other artefacts from these first three buildings are displayed in the museum corner of the present church.[11]

St Mary's Deane, once the only church in a parish of ten townships in the hundred of Salford, is a church established in Saxon times. The current building dates from 1250 with extensions and restoration in the 19th century and is a Grade II*listed building.[100]

The red-brick St George's Church was built between 1794 and 1796 when the Little Bolton area was a separate township. Built by Peter Rothwell it was paid for by the Ainsworth family.[101] After the last service in 1975 it was leased to Bolton Council, and became a craft centre in 1994.[102]

The New Zakaria Mosque was the first mosque in Bolton and served the Muslim Community who arrived in Bolton from Pakistan and India in the 1960s. Hindus also settled in the town in the 1960s; their first place of worship was in the former St Barnabus Church, converted into a Hindu temple.[95]

Bolton Hockey Club fields women's men's and junior teams and has more than 120 playing members.[104] The town has two local cricket leagues, the Bolton Cricket League,[105] and the Bolton Cricket Association.[106] Bolton also has a rugby union club, Bolton RUFC formed in 1872 situated on Avenue Street. The club operates four senior teams, as well as women's and junior sections.[107]Bolton Robots of Doom is a baseball club started in 2003, playing home games at Stapleton Avenue. In addition to the adult team there is a junior team, Bolton Bears. Baseball in Bolton dates back to 1938 with a team called Bolton Scarlets.[108] An American football team, the Bolton Bulldogs, plays home games at Smithills School operating varsity and junior varsity teams.[109]Speedway racing, known as Dirt Track Racing, was staged at Raikes Park in the pioneering days of 1928, but the venue was short-lived.[110]

Bolton has several theatres including the Octagon and independent groups such as Bolton Little Theatre and the Phoenix Theatre Company. Inside the Town Hall there is a theatre and conference complex, the Albert Halls. Le Mans Crescent, home to the central library, museum, art gallery, aquarium, magistrates' court and town hall, is to be the centre of a new Cultural Quarter. The library and museum are to be extended into the area now occupied by the Magistrates Court. Bolton Museum and Art Gallery houses a collection of local and international art, including work by the Bolton-born American artist Thomas Moran.[113]

Bolton Central Library was one of the earliest public libraries established after the Public Libraries Act 1850, opening in October 1853 in the Exchange Building on the old market square (Victoria Square) before moving to Le Mans Crescent in July 1938.[114] The Bolton Symphony Orchestra performs regular concerts at the Albert Halls and Victoria Hall in the town centre.[115] The 2008 BBC Radio 3 Adult Choir of the Year[116] and five times gold-medal winning barbershop chorus The Cottontown Chorus is based in Bolton.[117]

Bolton buildings have stood in for other towns and cities. Le Mans Crescent has featured as a London street in the Jeremy Brett version of Sherlock Holmes and a Russian secret service building in the 1990s comedy series Sleepers. The 1990s BBC drama Between the Lines filmed an episode in Victoria Square.[121]

Public services

Bolton is policed by the Bolton Central Division of Greater Manchester Police, which covers the town centre, Rumworth and Halliwell. Great Lever and Little Lever are covered by Farnworth Police Station, Astley Bridge Police Station covers Tonge and The Haulgh, Breightmet and Crompton while Heaton and Lostock, and Smithills are covered by Horwich Police (Middlebrook).[123] The statutory emergency fire and rescue service is provided by the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, from Bolton Central, Bolton North, Horwich and Farnworth Fire Stations.[124] Hospital services are provided by the Royal Bolton Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which provides Accident and Emergency and other services at Royal Bolton Hospital in Farnworth.[125] Community health services, including GPs, district and community nurses, dentists and pharmacists, are co-ordinated by the Bolton Primary Care Trust.[126] Waste management is co-ordinated by the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority.[127] Bolton's Distribution Network Operator for electricity is Electricity North West Ltd.[128] United Utilities manage Bolton's drinking and waste water.[129]

↑ 6.06.16.26.36.46.5Farrer, William; Brownbill, J, eds. (1911), "Great Bolton", A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, British History Online, pp. 243–251, retrieved 6 December 2009<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>

↑"Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Bolton", A vision of Britain through time, Great Britain Historical GIS Project, University of Portsmouth, 2004, retrieved 7 December 2009<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>

↑ 13.013.1Farrer, William; Brownbill, J, eds. (1911), "Little Bolton", A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, British History Online, pp. 251–255, retrieved 6 December 2009<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>

↑ 14.014.114.214.314.414.5Farrer, William; Brownbill, J, eds. (1911), "Bolton le Moors", A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 5, British History Online, pp. 235–243, retrieved 6 December 2009<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>

↑"Lancashire: Bolton", Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales, retrieved 9 June 2009<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>

↑"Bolton County Borough", A Vision of Britain Through Time, archived from the original on 1 December 2008, retrieved 6 December 2008<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>

↑"1981 Key Statistics for Urban Areas: The North Table 1", Office for National Statistics, 1981Missing or empty |url= (help)<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>